n. the branch of theology concerned with the nature and the constitution and the functions of a church

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

ecclesi(a) + -logy.

Examples

One of the best documents to read for those who have questions about Catholic ecclesiology is Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church; it was an essential text for me when I was working though many questions in my journey to and into the Catholic Church.

The most in-depth study of Ratzinger's ecclesiology is likely Joseph Ratzinger: Life in the Church and Living Theology, Fundamentals of Ecclesiology, by Maximilian Heinrich Heim, which for $12 (the current online price) is a steal.

Such Orthodox complain that, in the Catholic Church, there is only one bishop with many auxiliaries; but historically as well as today, Rome has exerted much less de facto authority over local ordinaries than popular notions of papal supremacy would suggest; and given her official ecclesiology, that is as it should be.

Central to his ecclesiology is the impossibility of determining the presence of grace in another's soul, which militates against identifying members of the elect with certainty, and therefore against excommunicating any of them from the Church, as well as ruling out popular election as a means of instituting just civil dominium.

I contend that the formula "ecclesiology" is fraught with epistemological assumptions (modern Enlightenment) that lead us to the very problem (individualist oriented salvation leading to pragmatic Christianity) the phrase was intended to avert in the first place.